Maternal and Child Health Library
MCH Alert: Focus on Infant Mortality is developed by the Maternal
and Child Health Library in collaboration with the National Sudden
and Unexpected Infant/Child and Pregnancy Loss Resource Center. This
and past issues are available online
at http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/archives.html and http://www.sidscenter.org/alert/archives.html.
January 30, 2009
Special Notice: The CJ Foundation for SIDS has announced the
availability of guidelines for the following 2009 grant programs:
Program Services Grants and Express Grants. The programs provide
funding for services related to sudden infant death syndrome, sudden
unexpected infant death, and/or infant safe sleep. Areas considered for
funding include education initiatives, bereavement services,
communication, and administration and management. More information
about Program Services Grants is available at http://www.cjsids.com/grants/program-services-grants.shtml;
information about Express Grants is available at http://www.cjsids.com/grants/express-grants.shtml.
1. Resource Center Compiles Information on Sudden Infant
Death for First Responders
2. New Edition of Oral Health Knowledge Path Available
3. Report Provides Tool for Improving Community Health
4. Authors Examine Studies on Long-Term Outcomes of
Assisted Conception
5. Article Assesses Beliefs About Health Effects of
Thirdhand Smoke
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1. RESOURCE CENTER COMPILES INFORMATION ON SUDDEN INFANT DEATH FOR
FIRST RESPONDERS
Responding to Sudden Infant Death: First Responders presents
information on sudden unexpected infant death for individuals
responsible for investigating and determining cause of death, including
emergency medical technicians, firefighters, emergency room personnel,
and coroners and medical examiners. The Web page, produced by the
National Sudden and Unexpected Infant/Child Death and Pregnancy Loss
Resource Center at Georgetown University, includes information that may
be applied nationwide as well as sample documents from selected states.
Contents include an overview, featured resources, standards and
protocols, and training. Topics include bereavement practice guidelines
for the health professional in the emergency department, the emotional
impact of a sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) incident on first
responders and emergency medical personnel, overcoming language
barriers, the SIDS home visit, and state laws. Additional resources on
autopsies, child abuse, first responders, SIDS, and sudden unexplained
infant death are included. The Web page is available at http://www.sidscenter.org/firstresponders.html.
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2. NEW EDITION OF ORAL HEALTH KNOWLEDGE PATH AVAILABLE
Oral Health for Infants, Children, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women:
Knowledge Path is an electronic guide to recent resources that analyze
data, describe effective programs, and report on policy and research
aimed at improving access to and the quality of oral health care. The
knowledge path was produced by the MCH Library in collaboration with
the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center for
National Children's Dental Health Month (February 2009). The path
contains information on Web sites and resources from national and state
organizations, distance learned resources, databases, and newsletters
and online discussion lists. Separate sections identify resources for
professionals, resources for consumers, and resources on specific
aspects of oral health. Topics include child care and Head Start,
dental sealants, early childhood caries, fluoride varnish, K-12
education, pregnancy, school-based care, school evaluation mandates,
and special health care needs. The knowledge path is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_oralhealth.html.
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3. REPORT PROVIDES TOOL FOR IMPROVING COMMUNITY HEALTH
The Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) Report provides an
overview of key health indicators for local communities to encourage
dialogue about actions that can be taken to improve a community's
health. The CHSI report is a project of a partnership that includes the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (including the National
Center for Health Statistics and the Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry), the National Institutes of Health/National Library
of Medicine, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the
Public Health Foundation, the Association of State and Territorial
Health Officials, the National Association of County and City Health
Officials, the National Association of Local Boards of Health, and the
Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. The report contains
over 200 measures for each of the 3,141 U.S. counties. In addition to
the Web pages, community profiles can be displayed on maps or
downloaded in brochure format. The CHSI mapping capability allows users
to visually compare their own counties with similar counties (termed
peer counties) and adjacent counties. The report can serve as a
starting point for community assessment of needs; quantification of
vulnerable populations; and measurement of preventable diseases,
disabilities, and deaths. More information is available at http://www.communityhealth.hhs.gov/HomePage.aspx.
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4. AUTHORS EXAMINE STUDIES ON LONG-TERM OUTCOMES OF ASSISTED CONCEPTION
"This systematic review revealed important gaps in the evidence of
long-term outcomes in children born after assisted conception," state
the authors of an article published in the January 2009 issue of the
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. There is a particular
obligation to evaluate treatments in health care systems to guarantee
their safety. The article presents findings from a systematic review of
the current evidence on associations between assisted conception and
severe long-term outcomes, specifically cerebral palsy (CP) and autism
spectrum disorder (ASD). The review also examined general developmental
delay outcomes.
The researchers searched PubMed for studies written in English and
published between January 1, 1996, and March 31, 2008, reporting human
outcomes of assisted conception, including children exposed to in vitro
fertilization (IVF) with or without intracytoplasmic sperm injection or
ovulation induction with or without subsequent intrauterine
insemination. A total of 41 articles met the additional inclusion
criteria of original data, follow-up time of 1 year or more, and a
comparison group of unexposed naturally conceived children.
(Meta-analyses were performed only for the CP studies reviewed.)
The authors found that
- Of the 31 included studies, only 2 were case-control studies; the
remainder were cohort studies.
- Of the 9 studies assessing the risk of CP in IVF children, only 1
was conducted outside of Scandinavia. A meta-analysis (without
overlapping study cohorts) included 19,462 IVF children and
demonstrated an increased risk of CP in IVF children.
- The 8 studies assessing the risk of ASD were inconsistent overall
and when considering singletons and multiples separately.
- The 30 studies on developmental delay following assisted
conception mainly included small, select groups of children at low
risk, and they presented generally non-statistically significant
results.
"Given the continually increased use of fertility treatments worldwide,
studies addressing these very large gaps in the knowledge of the
long-term health and development of children born after assisted
conception are an important public health objective," conclude the
authors.
Hvidtjorn D, Schieve L, Schendel D, et al. 2009. Cerebral palsy, autism
spectrum disorders, and developmental delay in children born after
assisted conception: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of
Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 163(1):72-83. Abstract available at http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/1/72.
Readers: More information is available from the following MCH Library
resources:
- Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Resource Brief at
http://www.mchlibrary.info/guides/ART.html
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5. ARTICLE ASSESSES BELIEFS ABOUT HEALTH EFFECTS OF THIRDHAND SMOKE
"This study demonstrated that beliefs about the health effects of
thirdhand smoke are independently associated with home smoking bans,"
write the authors of an article published in the January 2009 issue of
Pediatrics. Research has documented the association between smoking in
the home and persistently high levels of tobacco toxins well beyond the
period of active smoking. These toxins take the form of particulate
matter deposited in a layer onto every surface within the home; in
loose household dust; and as volatile toxic compounds that "off gas"
into the air over days, weeks, and months. Smoking indoors on one day
therefore exposes people to tobacco toxins within that space in the
future. The authors use the new term "thirdhand smoke" to name this
complex phenomenon and define it as residual tobacco smoke
contamination that remains after the cigarette is extinguished. The
study described in this article used a nationally representative sample
of adults to determine the prevalence of recognizing the dangers
associated with thirdhand smoke and the association with household
smoking bans.
The study reports data from the Social Climate Survey of Tobacco
Control (SCS-TC), an annual cross-sectional survey that was designed to
operationalize the concept of the social climate on tobacco into a
comprehensive set of quantifiable social and environmental indicators
that characterize society: (1) family and friendship groups, (2)
education; (3) workplace; (4) government and political order; (5)
health and medical care; (6) recreation, leisure, and sports; and (7)
mass culture and communication. The SCS-TC was administered in
September to November 2005. The present study sample consisted of 1,478
adults.
The authors found that
- A total of 15.6% of the sample reported a smoker living in the
home, and, among nonsmokers, 8.4% lived with a smoker. The total
prevalence of homes with a smoker was 25.6%.
- A large majority (93%) of respondents believed that secondhand
smoke (SHS) harms children's health, compared with only 61% who
believed that thirdhand smoke harms children's health.
- Significant numbers (22%) of respondents reported not knowing
whether thirdhand smoke harms children's health, whereas only 3.4%
reported not knowing whether SHS does so.
- Controlling for sociodemographics and possible confounders, the
authors found an independent association between belief that thirdhand
smoke harms children's health and the presence of strict home smoking
bans.
- Belief that SHS harms children's health was not independently
associated with the presence of strict home smoking bans.
The authors conclude that "emphasizing that thirdhand smoke harms the
health of children may be an important element in encouraging home
smoking bans."
Winickoff JP, Friebely J, Tanski SE, et al. 2009. Beliefs about the
health effects of "thirdhand" smoke and home smoking bans. Pediatrics
123(1):e74-e79. Abstract available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/1/e74.
Readers: More information is available from the following MCH Library
resources:
- Smoking / Tobacco Use Prevention: Bibliography at
http://www.mchlibrary.info/action.lasso?-database=Biblio&-layout=Web&-response=/databases/BibLists/bib_smokingprev.html&-MaxRecords=all&-DoScript=auto_search_smokingprev&-search
- Environmental Health: Resource Brief at
http://www.mchlibrary.info/guides/environmentalhealth.html
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MCH Alert © 1998-2009 by National Center for Education in Maternal
and
Child Health and Georgetown University. MCH Alert: Focus on Infant
Mortality is produced by
Maternal and Child Health Library at the National Center for Education
in Maternal and Child Health under its cooperative agreements
(U02MC00001 and U48MC08717) with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau,
Health
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royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to use the work for
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MCH Alert
Maternal and Child Health Library
National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health
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